Tigers and Insect-Hunting. 35 



My friend at Bukit-tima was truly a father to his flock. He 

 preached to them in Chinese every Sunday, and had evenings 

 for discussion and conversation on reUgion during the week. 

 He had a school to teach their children. His house was open 

 to them day and night. If a man came to him and said, " I 

 have no rice for my family to eat to-day," he would give him 

 half of what he had in the house, however little that might be. 

 If another said, " I have no money to pay my debt," he would 

 give him half the contents of his purse, were it his last dollar. 

 So, when he was himself in Avant, he would send to some of 

 the wealthiest among his flock and say, " I have no rice in the 

 house," or " I have given away my money, and am in want of 

 such and such articles." The result was that his flock trust- 

 ed and loved him, for they felt sure that he was their true 

 friend, and had no ulterior designs in living among them. 



The island of Singapore consists of a multitude of small 

 hills, three or four hundred feet high, the summits of many 

 of which are still covered with virgin forest. The mission- 

 house at Bukit-tima was surrounded by several of these wood- 

 topped hiUs, which were much frequented by wood-cutters 

 and sawyers, and offered me an excellent collecting-ground 

 for insects. Here and there, too, were tiger-pits, carefully cov- 

 ered over with sticks and leaves, and so well concealed, that 

 in several cases I had a narrow escape from falling into them. 

 They are shaped like an iron furnace, wider at the bottom than 

 the top, and are perhaps fifteen or twenty feet deep, so that 

 it would be almost impossible for a person unassisted to get 

 out of one. Formerly a sharp stake was stuck erect in the 

 bottom ; but after an unfortunate traveller had been kiUed by 

 falling on one, its use was forbidden. There are always a few 

 tigers roaming about Singapore, and they kill on an average 

 a Chinaman every day, principally those who work in the gam- 

 bir plantations, which are always made in newly-cleared jun- 

 gle. We heard a tiger roar once or twice in the evening, and 

 it was rather nervous work hunting for insects among the 

 fallen trunks and old sawpits, when one of these savage ani- 

 mals might be lurking close by, waiting an opportunity to 

 spring upon us. 



Several hours in the middle of every fine day were spent in 



